B.C’s environmental assessment process is so flawed it cannot hope to fill the void created by the federal government walking away from assessments of almost 500 projects, critics charged Wednesday, while launching court action and releasing a scathing internal government email.

Ecojustice went to B.C. Supreme Court seeking a judicial review of the province’s failure to conduct a formal environmental assessment on the Holmes hydro power project near McBride.

Sechelt, BC – The Clark Government recently approved sixteen licence applications to extract water from the shíshálh, Homalco and Klahoose First Nation Territories. The licences are held by a numbered company, believed to represent the Kwiakah First Nation, for the purpose of establishing a large scale commercial water bottle enterprise. The water bottling scheme involves applications to extract water from 34 streams located in the Jervis, Toba, Bute and Knight Inlets. Each licence has a term of 30 years and is paired with a land lease at the mouth of each stream.

In early 2011, the Friends of Bute Inlet and other organizations became aware of more than 30 applications for water licences for bottling purposes on streams in Jervis, Toba, Bute and Knight inlets. We collectively asked the Minister of Environment to deem them a reviewable project under the Environmental Assessment Act and ensure that there was at least some opportunity for discussion and submissions on the applications by not just us, but by local governments and First Nations.

CAMPBELL RIVER – After stating clearly that the boundaries of the Great Bear Rainforest would not be changed to allow a massive independent power project to move ahead, the B.C. Liberals have broken their word and passed legislation that does just that, say New Democrats.

Though presented as part of its effort to protect families, the government's recently imposed cap on BC Hydro rate increases will not help British Columbians - families or otherwise. The cap on rates does nothing to reduce costs. At best it provides a short-term gain, but sooner or later BC Hydro will have to increase rates to match the increase in its costs.

VANCOUVER, June 6, 2012 /CNW/ - Alterra Power Corporation (TSX: AXY) and the Sliammon First Nation are pleased to announce that they have signed a Resource Development Agreement (RDA) that will facilitate the development of the transmission infrastructure for the proposed Bute Inlet run-of-river hydro project. A portion of the transmission line would be located within the traditional territory of the Sliammon First Nation, and the RDA details the terms under which the Sliammon First Nation and Alterra will work together on the development and build out to commercial operation of the Bute Inlet project's transmission infrastructure.

Let’s not forget that there is a compelling reason for environmental assessments of industrial projects. In the days before environmental assessment laws, much unnecessary damage was done to the environment, to people, to the economy, and to taxpayers. For example:

Two years after the B.C. Liberals pushed BC Hydro to develop clean energy for export, the drive is all but dead, a victim of the changing economics of the North American electricity market.

"BC Hydro's analysis shows that current market conditions are not conducive to selling clean electricity into export markets," says the latest iteration of the utility's integrated resource plan, released last week for public comment.

VANCOUVER, /CNW/ - Alterra Power Corp. (TSX: AXY) and the Klahoose First Nation are pleased to announce that they have signed a Resource Development Agreement (RDA), establishing the framework under which Alterra and the Klahoose will work together to advance the Upper Toba run-of-river hydroelectric project, which lies within the traditional territory of the Klahoose First Nation.

A standards review of the more than 30 certified operations should be done later this year, but critics say too many fry are dying

An organization criticized for being too lenient when handing out its EcoLogo certification to private run-of-river hydro projects in B.C. said Friday it is in the process of adopting new and more comprehensive standards for the fast-growing industry.

Two days after the Wilderness Committee revealed the controversial Kokish River hydro proposal was going to be built, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) finally officially informed the public with an announcement on a government website.

A controversial hydroelectric project on northern Vancouver Island is poised to start construction, even though the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has not given an official goahead.

Help-wanted advertisements for the Kokish River power project have appeared in northern Island newspapers and the 'Namgis First Nation, which owns a 25 per cent stake in the $200-million project, has been told approval is imminent.

The federal government is reducing the number of departments and agencies that can do environmental reviews from 40 to just three to speed up approvals for projects that will bolster Canada's economy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said today.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) announced today that the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Guidelines for the proposed Site C Clean Energy Project are being issued for public comment. The public is also invited to attend Open House Sessions to be held in the project area in May 2012.

Harper Government to Eliminate Habitat Protection Provisions in the Canada Fisheries Act

To date the Harper government has shown little regard for the protection of the environment and over the past few years has supervised the almost total elimination of enforcement of the habitat protection and the pollution provisions of the Canada Fisheries Act (Sections 35 and 36 respectively).